to think most people my age have a sibling?

[Goblin74]

32 years old.

I'm lying here putting my 9 month old to bed and I started thinking about how he'll likely be an only child. It led me to think about how common it is today to have only one child and I started thinking about my own childhood (I'm an only child) and the more I thought about it, the more I realised all my friends growing up had siblings. I was fortunate enough to have lots of friends growing up and I'm going through every one of them realising they all had at least one brother or sister.
The kids on my street for example: 11 houses all with kids. I was the ONLY only child.
Primary school: about 8 of us, two only children (and the only other one I can think of)
High school: again a group of 6 (totally different to primary). I was the only only child.
Today: I have 7 close friends. All have siblings.

Was it normal in the late 80s/90s to just have more than one child? Or have I just somehow managed to avoid being friends with only children?

If you're in my age range, do you have brothers and sisters?

DH and I were discussing this the other day. We’re both 29 and all our friends have siblings with the exception of my oldest friend, who is the only only child I can think of that I know.

I’m nearly 27 and my sister is 30 next week. A small handful of our friends were only children.

I have two DC and we’re hoping for at least one more.

Most people had at least one sibling, but there were only children too. Don't forget that the maths makes non-onlies seem more common in your own generation. If one family has one kid and another two then 2/3 of the kids have a sibling. But only 1/2 of the families are multi child families. When you were a kid you saw it more from the first perspective; as an adukt you are seeing it more from the latter.

I only know of one person my entire life to be an only child, but she was a twin that was unfortunately stillborn so even she wasn't really.

I'm 48, an only child, and I went to school with quite a few growing up.

I'm an only (60s child). I didn't know anyone else growing up who was (except my dad!). I have three, which I've always said was an over reaction. I know two people in my reasonably immediate circle who only have one child.

I’m 37 and an only child, I remember it was an oddity and people constantly commenting on how unusual it was. I think there was only one other only child that I can remember from primary school and I can only recall a handful from high school.
My eldest is 6 and there are at least 10 kids I can immediately think of in his year that are onlies.

There were 3 only children in my primary class out of 18. And I can immediately think of 3 more old friends who are only children. All born in the 80s. Maybe I know an unusually high number. One of my friends mums went through very early menopause and two had traumatic births and weren’t able to have a second child.

One of my DC has 5 only children in a class of 17. I do wonder if the percentage of 1 child families is increasing? Someone must know the stats for this.

I’m 31 no kids yet but I have an older brother. If I’m lucky enough to have kids I’d want atleast 2. For me growing up my brother had my back and played with etc while my mum worked so I was never alone. I’d want the same for my kids.

I am one of three, age 34, but growing up I had several friends who were only children. It wasn’t that uncommon.

My DS will be an only child (not entirely out of choice, sadly), he’s 5 and in his class at school there are only a couple of other onlies, that I know of. Probably less than there were in my class at school.

I’m 30 in the next few years of all my friends I can think of no only children.

My DD is 6 and she’s the only only in her class of 25 but there’s only 1 I can think of that has more than 1 sibling by birth (a couple have step siblings which I’m not counting)

Having fewer children is definitely becoming more common. Probably because fewer parents can be SAHPs and we learn less in comparison. And the standard of parenting has gone up, so kids cost more than they did and get more attention.

I'm a little bit older than you but I can't think of any one of my childhood friends who was an only child!

I'm 33 only child and it was rare growing up (none in any of my immediate friendship groups at first,middle of high school). My Mum is an only. My Dad has lots (incl. halfs and steps)

I have two, really wanted more than 1 but some of my contemporaries are stopping at 1 through choice so think it may be more common now.

I'm 38 and am an only child, though my parents wanted more children. Most kids I knew had siblings. My son is an only due to fertility issues. It's much more common now and there are loads of FB groups for those with only children (by choice or not).

Depends.

I grew up in a poor area, so there was just one only child in the year and lots of large families; it seemed to be that the 'wealthier' (ie, Mum and Dad, owned house and had a car, ethnicity irrelevant until you got to wealthy but religiously observant) families tended to have two children.

I think that an area with more working women and higher average incomes would have shown a greater number of two child and single child families.

I am an only child at 29, almost 30. I know a few others about my age who are as well, though not many.

It's a bit different now to then. Back then most people weren't only children through choice. These days couples make a conscious decision to be "one and done". Not something I would want personally.....my DH was an only and my god it shows. We've spent £35k on IVF to ensure DD wasnt an only child

My 32 year old DSD is an only. She has at least 2 only child friends. My 90 year old dad is an only. I can't think of any of my friends that are though.
It's so expensive bringing up children now, what with the cost of childcare and needing 2 incomes to have any chance of buying/renting a place big enough for a family.
Most of my peers stayed at home for the early years, and/or worked part time, and could still afford to keep a roof over our heads. It's far harder now.

I’m same as you. Only child in my thirties and all friends growing up had siblings

I’m 40 and sort of an only child. My older brother was born with a serious disability and died during our childhood.

Looking back, my best friend is also an only and another in my friendship group at school but most of my friends had/have siblings.

I’d say there are more only children in my young children’s friendship groups though as they’re both fairly young that could yet change.

Yanbu op. Only child families are a definite minority.

I only know one only child, but then I grew up in Ireland, where contraceptives were banned until the seventies. My granny had 10 children.
I have an only child myself now, but she would definitely not have been an only if contraceptives were not freely available.

49 and an only child, it was quite rare when I was a kid everyone had at least two siblings. My daughter is 18 and I’d say half her classes were only children.

I only know one only child. I was born mid 80s.

When I was at school the group of girls I was most friendly with were:
Me - 3 siblings
Friend a - 1 sibling
Friend b - 3 siblings
Friend c - 2 siblings
Friend d - 2 siblings
Friend e - 1 sibling

I would say back then having 3 kids was easily as common as having 2, and having 4 was probably more common than only having 1.